{ burning out our glory days } | jacinta vs. daniela, day 7
Dec 4, 2017 20:38:55 GMT -5
Post by я𝑜𝓈𝑒 on Dec 4, 2017 20:38:55 GMT -5
J A C I N T A .
stood at the coal face
stood with our backs to the sun
i can remember being nothing
but fearless and young
stood at the coal face
stood with our backs to the sun
i can remember being nothing
but fearless and young
She watches the anthem closely that night through an opening in the canopy of trees over her head. Kraygon Truus's is the first to appear — it wasn't a surprise to her. She doesn't gasp, or even blink; he was lower district, after all. But the next one was not what she was expecting — Hayden Harvard, District Two. Although Hayden was her ally for two nights, Jacinta feels almost numb, and yet seeing her face in the sky sucks the air from her lungs. She does not truly mourn Hayden Harvard; there is no icy wave of guilt and desolation. She isn't drowning like she was when she lost Ment, but she still feels suffocated.
Jacinta's only visible response to Hayden's death is a furrowed brow. Once her face disappears, she pushes the thought of her head and focuses on the rest of the anthem. Alfie Larson, District Twelve, and Josephine Emerson, District Eleven.
Cynthia Delgado is still alive, along with Daniela Rasoio, and of course, Ansel Khiev. She's starting to run out of time to kill him; she won't hesitate to slit his throat like she did Atlas if she sees him tomorrow.
If not Ansel, then am I prepared to face Cynthia? she wonders. Jacinta does not think she will ever be ready for any of the remaining tributes; they are so down to the wire at this point. She is so near to closing in on victory, and yet there are still three people in her way.
Maybe you should have just killed Cynthia in her sleep, a voice in Jacinta's head chides. And then you wouldn't have to deal with it at all. (It would have been a kindness compared to the way that Jacinta has seen others die in the Arena.)
But it is just what-if's — what if she had killed Ansel sooner, what if she killed Cynthia in her sleep, what if Ment and Tobias and Quill were still alive. Would she have killed them while they slept? Would she have so easily turned on them when all they had done was show her loyalty?
What-if's are not worth dwelling on. They would only make her lose sleep, and if she is to survive tomorrow, Jacinta is going to need it. As Jacinta said before — they're dead. Ment, Tobias, Quill. She didn't want them to die yet, but — "It changes nothing. They're still dead." Jacinta had barked those words at Josephine, her words sharp as knives. It was harsh of her to say such things, but the truth is ugly. And no matter how hideous it may be, it must be accepted.
She sighs and closes her eyes, nestling herself into a corner of a bent tree branch. For several minutes, Jacinta stays awake in pure darkness, wondering who she will face the next day. Cynthia, Ansel, or Daniela — fate rolls a dice that night and Jacinta can only hope that it will be Ansel. He will need to be taken out before the finale, and she only trusts herself to do the deed.
When she awakens the next morning, she climbs down from her tree and lands squarely on the ground. If Tobias were here, perhaps they would have climbed up to the top together. Jacinta used to have contests with her siblings to see who could scale the tree the fastest — it was usually her or Luzia, the faster of the four, who won. But those days are gone and there is no one to play games with her here. Tobias is long gone and her family is thousands of miles away.
She does not walk for long before coming across the moon pond again, where the everlasting full moon is reflected on the surface. Quillon died here, she recalls. She almost points to the spot — Ansel stabbed him in the eye right over there. Jacinta remembers the clouds of blood in the dark water; it had dripped into the pond from his head.
She hears footsteps approaching and almost expects Ansel to walk right out of the trees with his spear drawn like she saw him yesterday. It isn't Ansel, but the tribute who slips into Jacinta's vision is almost as familiar.
Rather than Ansel Khiev, Jacinta finds herself faced with Daniela Rasoio from District Eight. Although they have no history of being enemies, Jacinta draws her axe; she supposes it starts here. It seems she gains a new nemesis constantly now — Ansel, Ezen, Josephine. From here on out, there are no friends, she supposes. Only enemies, and Daniela is no exception. She is not Ansel, but she is still a danger, another obstacle Jacinta must eliminate.
"It's you," Jacinta says, almost disappointed. "I was hoping you'd be Khiev."
He'll have to dealt with later — again, she thinks, almost sighing in frustration. If she weren't nursing a fresh wound to the stomach yesterday, she would have ended him while he was distracted with Josephine.
Jacinta swings her axe around in a circle as she braces herself for a fight. She narrows her eyes, and then a question comes to mind. When she inquires it, she is not angry, but rather, curious. Her tone is even; not too harsh but not at all soft. "Were you the one who killed Hayden Harvard? Or did Cynthia do it?" Hayden could have easily been the canon that awakened Jacinta from her sleep yesterday. Cynthia could have done what Jacinta could not — ended Hayden right then and there while she slept.
It was the kindest way to kill. She has seen enough suffering to know that. Clementa, legless and bleeding, pleading for death; Josephine, broken and bloody on the ground, surrendered to her fate. Jacinta is almost glad that Tobias and Quillon died instantly; they didn't deserve to suffer.
She hopes that Daniela's death will be quick like theirs.
[Jacinta attacks Daniela Rasoio; axe]
bKcUYmfLaxe
[11021 -- Shallow Cut on Right Shoulder -- 3.5 damage]
bKcUYmfLaxe
[11021 -- Shallow Cut on Right Shoulder -- 3.5 damage]
we've become echoes
but echos that fade away
we fall into the dark as
we dive under the way (i heard you say)
. . .
lyrics: "silhouette" by aquilo.
but echos that fade away
we fall into the dark as
we dive under the way (i heard you say)
. . .
lyrics: "silhouette" by aquilo.
